Following his first county board meeting newly elected District 1 Cook County commissioner Robert (Bobby) Deshampe was happily greeted by three of his children. On the left is Maranda, then Bobby, Jordyn and Mariah.
On Tuesday, June 13, Robert (Bobby) Deschampe was sworn in as the new Cook County District 1 commissioner.
Kim Shepard, Deputy Court Administrator, conducted the Oath of Office.
Deschampe defeated James (Jim) Vannet in a special election that ended June 6. Deschampe will serve one and one-half years, the remaining time left on the four-year term held by Frank Moe, who resigned last November.
Although the vote is in and Deschampe has been sworn in, there are some loose ends to the run up for the election that need to be dealt with.
Vannet filed a complaint with the Minnesota Office of Administrative Hearing alleging actions taken by Mr. Deschampe constituted a violation of the Campaign Fair Practices Act.
Mr. Vannet was notified by one of his friends that they had received a copy of Mr. Deschampe’s political mailer in her Hovland post office box. According to Mr. Vannet, his friend had picked her mail up on or about May 23-24. When he was shown the mailer, Vannet noticed that it didn’t comply with the election standards.
Newly elected District 1 Cook County commissioner Bobby Deschampe took the oath of office administered by Deputy Court Administrator Kim Shepard on June 13.
“I questioned the validity of the political piece since it did not have any addresses on the piece, and no contact name and no source of funding. I filed my complaint to the administrative law judge’s office on May 26, 2017, because I felt the political piece did not follow the Minnesota Fair Campaign Practices Act.”
The complaint was sent 10 days prior to the closing date of the election, said Vannet.
The administrative judge reviewing Vannet’s claim moved the case forward. The matter was to proceed to a probable cause hearing conducted by telephone that was scheduled for Thursday, June 8, but Mr. Deschampe, while sending people to speak for him, couldn’t attend because of work. However, the judge expressly wanted to hear from Mr. Deschampe, so the case was once again pushed forward until Monday, June 12 at 10 a.m.
This time Mr. Deschampe was able to get free from his work commitments, and the hearing was going to proceed. However, a gentleman who was helping Mr. Deschampe who had information about the matter couldn’t be reached by cell phone because he lived in a cell phone dead zone.
Again, the hearing was rescheduled, this time for June 20 at 1:30 p.m. In the meantime, until the judge decides to continue the case or end it, Mr. Deschampe will serve as District 1 commissioner.
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